The curtain-raiser to this historic occasion occurred at the County Ground in Bristol, where England’s whitewash of India in T20 continued. One exception to the general want of patience and technique was supplied by the captain Shreyas Iyer, whose unbeaten 80 from 49 was all anyone could have asked for. The other batsmen had another day to forget, succumbing to Archer and Tongue’s menacing lift and bounce. It is a strange pitch hereabouts, resembling a rolled-out sponge cake laid over an aircraft runway. The English seamers made the ball fly and ignored the occasional six. India’s 158/7 was never going to be enough, and the home side strolled home with six overs to spare: Brook’s unbeaten 79 from 35 giving the home crowd plenty to cheer. Phil Salt endured another torrid maiden over from Arshdeep, but thereafter enjoyed himself. India are giving the appearance of being anxious to be on the plane home; but there is plenty of this tour to come, beginning with the final T20 in Southampton.
But the real news of the day was at Lords, where India’s women faced England. This is the first time in the history of this august venue that a Test match for women has been permitted here: a dubious statistic on which the egg-and-bacon crew need not congratulate themselves unduly. Sciver-Brunt won the toss and surprised Harmanpreet by asking her to bat, on a dry wicket in the midst of a heatwave against opposition with three high-quality spinners. At first it went pear-shaped for the home side, despite two early wickets to Bell and Filer. Bowlers who know the infamous Lords slope regard it as an attacking weapon. Those who have never played here before notably struggle. Bell and Filer will not have enjoyed the sight of their pitch maps. By the time Jemmy Rodrigues was out the hundred was already up in the 19th over.
She was dismissed by Issy Wong, who returned to the Test team today, in the unglamorous role of third seamer. She struggled with line and length. She tried to make the ball swing and it wouldn’t. Yet she persisted. And that was the story of England’s day. Smriti Mandhana looked set to make 200, having cashed in against some wayward bowling; but Wong picked her up too, caught by Jones standing up to the stumps. Multi-ethnic Birmingham’s poster woman then took a superb outfield catch to get rid of the dangerous Ghosh. Star all-rounder Deepti Sharma made a hard-hitting fifty, but perished to Ecclestone, who swept away the tail in short order.
The best delivery of the day came from Durham’s debutant off-spinner Maddy Villiers, who took some heavy treatment, but bravely continued to flight the ball outside off-stump, and was rewarded with a Nathan Lyon special to Harmanpreet. It looped up outside off, drifting away through the air, and darted between bat and pad like a kingfisher snaffling an early breakfast. As the stumps tilted back the Indian captain stared in disbelief, as well she might. Villiers trapped Rana in front, and returned to the pavilion with a hard-earned 2/79. England lost Beaumont early to Gaud, who attacked the stumps far more than her opponents had done. The home team will resume on 1/21, and will need to bat all day, at the very least.